I have my cats to thank for being an artist, or, more accurately, my love for them for it inspired me to pursue a dream I’d always had, of expressing what I saw and what I felt in a visual medium.

The first work in this calendar, “Waiting for Mom”, was my first full-color detailed rendering of one of my cats. Even though you only see a portion of her face I consider it my first portrait in a style that developed itself under my hands because it depicted Fawn at a game she enjoyed with me all her life, and a memory I hold dear. After all, a portrait is more than just a face, it is a summation of what is most remarkable and memorable about a subject.

Through the years my cats have been the subjects of dozens of works, and others, seeing these works, want a similar piece with their own animal companion as a subject. I have had the pleasure of creating more than 100 commissioned portraits of cats, dogs, cats and dogs, and cats and dogs and people. They are gifts for loved ones, memorials to cherished companions who’ve gone before us, and lovely pieces of artwork featuring an animal a person loved. Animals give us so much in everyday life, but my cats have given me my career.